Crazy 8's

So I got tagged twice and both were a little different, so I mixed them together for one, great big Crazy 8 list!

8 Favorite Restaurants...
1. Chipotle
2. Cafe Capistrano
3. Cafe Rio
4. Subway
5. TGI Friday's
6. Sheetz- does this count? I doubt any of my Western friends even know what this is, but I love it!!!
7. My husband's breakfasts!!!
8. Anything really that I haven't made sounds good.
Notice how they are mostly all Mexican Resturants!!!

8 things that happened yesterday...
1. Ran - Surprising, I know
2. I ate too many peanut M&M's- well too many is an understatment, more like the whole bag!
3. Dylan to and from Preschool
4. Parent- Teacher conference with Dylan's Preschool teacher- he's doing GREAT!!!
5. Had an interview for a casual pool position at the Hospital- so nerve racking!!
6. Played swords with Dylan
7. Read so many books I put myself down for a nap instead of my kids!
8. Nursed, Nursed and Nursed again!!!

8 things to look forward to...
1. Connor's Parents come this week
2. Halloween- I enforce the parent tax (20% of the candy goes to me!!!)
3. Thanksgiving with the Ellsworths
4. Christmas in CA with my whole fam
5. When Connor comes home
6. Sundays!!
7. Running another 1/2 in a month- can I say I am addicted???
8. Quiet time after the kids go to bed

8 Favorite TV Shows...
1. Dancing with the stars
2. Eli Stone
3. 24
4. Monk
5. CSI
6. Backyardigans, because it is so cute and I love the songs!
7. A football game here and there with Connor is always a treat
8. No TV might actually be nice!


8 things I love about Fall...
1. Crisp but warm days
2. Cruncky leaves
3. Halloween
4. Thanksgiving
5. Perfect weather- which never lasts long enough
6. getting out my winter clothes- fun until I realize how pathetic it is because I am always pregnant during the winter
7. Hot Chocolate
8. Cuddleing up in big warm blankets with my kids or husband

8 things on my wishlist...
1. My own house
2. Never move again (but first we have to move back out west)
3. My pre-baby tummy!!!
4. A cook
5. Time and energy for another triathlon
6. A masters Degree in Child Life
7. A cruise with just my husband
8. A month to play with my kids with no "to do" list

4th folder, 4th picture...
My super, awesome, little sister, Carianne who I guess is now making her debut appearance on my blog!!
If there was anyone I would want to be like- it would be her!


8 people I tag...
1. Carrie
2. Morgan
3. Jenny
4. Kristin
5. Liz
6. Robbin
7. Rochelle
8. Suzi

To The Farm We Go

Dylan's preschool class took a trip to Hill Ridge Farm last week. I didn't really know what to expect, but let's just say Dylan didn't want to leave after a full day of play! Here is a glimpse of our Day.
Sorry again for all the collages. Just an easy way to get more cute pictures in!!!

First we took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch...

All of us at the pumpkin patch- Choosing the right pumpkins is rather hard!! It was especially hard when I had to carrying all three of them, ALL my "stuff" (well not really mine, but you know) and get three little kids on the hayride back to the farm!

The pumpkin patch...

Then off to the maze. Ashlyn got quite confused (it is very long) but Dylan would have done it all day long. When Dylan announced he had to go to the Bathroom, instead of going straight there, he made a detour through the maze (he really had to go huh??). Thankfully he made it!

Dylan's favorite place at the farm was the Dried Corn Box- a lot like a sand box but with dried corn. We had to come back for a second round it was so fun! I loved it too- I could use one in my backyard.

There was also a hay maze- much easier for Ashlyn...

The tee pee...

This was a big slide. You sit on burlap and slide down it. Corbin even enjoyed it!

Best picture of the day... Isn't he the cuttest???

Bow Night

This is what I did last night with a few ladies in my ward. They are so cute I might have to build a outfit just to match them.

FYI, we found out some little tips to help, so if you ever make some, let me know and I will dish out all the details.

Guess what we got???

Yep, a horse!!!

No, Just kidding, we got a trampoline! They are very similar though! I found a great used one on Craig's list. The kids can't think about doing anything else. Even Corbin thinks it is a blast! Ashlyn has slowly become accustomed to it and can jump right along crazy Dylan. Dylan's favorite game is dodge ball! (BTY we do have a net around it, not shown in this picture.)

Here is Dylan having the time of his life. He can even do a full front flip, no problem!! The kid has no fear!

And all three kids...

And their favorite time- Daddy time...

I had a hard time deciding between a play structure and a trampoline, I thought they might play with this one more! They would eat, sleep, bathe and read on the tramp if I let them! I think I made a good choice! The best part is that it is right up next to some big windows in my living room- so really I could just sit and watch them jump all day!

Cannonball Complete

I have done all the other distances (5k,10k, marathon and triathlon) but I skipped one run- the 1/2 marathon. So this year I decided to give it a try. Today I ran the Greensboro Cannonball 1/2 marathon. It was much more fun to train for than the full- that is for sure! Ashlyn was by far my best training partner and she always wanted to come along for a ride.

So today was the day- it has been 80 degrees all week long, and then the high today was 52!! Perfect race day weather!?!? I met and exceeded my goal of breaking 2 hours! I finished at 1:50. It was a very hilly course and the last 800 was a very steap hill- cruel and unusual punishment!!! But I was excited to average a less thatn 8 1/2 mile pace and place 8th in my division!! But I was beat!


Enough about me- Thanks to Connor for putting up with the kids all on his own for many hours of training and for race day!

Here is before the race:

Here are all three kids stuffed into our kidarooz:

And the after:

Here's to the next one! Anyone???

Adieu to Summer

I would like to take the time so say:
Ha, Ha, Ha- I wore shorts today and I was still HOT!!!

This is the first time I have ever been able to gloat about my warm weather, and I really like it. Sorry to all those who had to have a taste of winter last weekend! I KNOW how you feel.

So as we say good bye to summer and hello to fall, here are some of the reoccurring events that filled our summer here in Raleigh:

We have been playing a lot of tennis. I have been taking a class with some of the women in my ward. It is staring to pay off and I am actually getting better! Thank you Connor! Dylan wishes he could play all day, as you can see he is playing in the dark and still doesn't believe it is time to go home. He is our little athlete, he is as good as me and has great rallies with Connor!

Ashlyn is our ball girl. She loves to go get all the balls and never gets tired of it. As you can see she is getting really good at it- here she has at least four balls! Pretty good for the little thing that she is.

The kids LOVED the pool. Luckily we met some friends that have a pool. We went there at least three times a week. Ashlyn learned to be less afraid of the water (good and bad.)

Dylan learned to swim with no floating devices and even learned to dive for toys! He is now our little fish. Dylan and Lydia are great friends. Anything they do together is fun.

We also have a play place in the mall great for those rainy days. The kids love this little place, especially when our friends are there too.

They loved playing hide-and-seek in the boat!

I have also been doing a lot of running- again, THANK YOU CONNOR!! It was hard to get used to the high humidity and high temperatures (almost too hot to run at night) but now it is perfect!

Grocery Shopping with Super Hero's

It was Super Boy, Super Girl, Super baby and Super Mom against the Dark Fighter!

The quest: To secretly and safely get food for the poor citizens of the country.

We rushed to the nearby Super food store (aka Target) in our super vehicle (aka our Odyseey) with all our boosters on, to get there before the Dark fighter could catch us and stop us. We even were able to power up our super cart with a booster as well! We silently (as silent as can be with three little kids) snuck through the isles of food to escape the eye of the Dark fighter. But he saw us, so we raced to hide among the frozen foods where we hoped the "misty cloud" would keep us unseen from his dark mask. It worked and we were off again to quickly gather our necessities. Finally our list was met. We had to sneak to the register so that he would not see us leaving. We had almost made it out without being detected, but he found us as we were speeding away in our super car! Thankfully we have a super disguise button that makes us invisible. So if we are quiet enough, he is unable to detect our presence. We made it back to our secret hideout with super victory.

This is how our last minute shopping trip went on Saturday. Dylan never likes to go shopping with me anymore and he especially didn't want to leave because he wanted to play super heros. And since I am queen of multi-tasking I thought "why can't we do both." To sum it all up- we had the best shopping trip we have ever had with all four of us. It was 1. quick 2. quiet (meaning I didn't have anyone screeming down the isle) 4. Happy (I didn't get mad once or have to enforce any consequences for disobedience and 5. I had the best car ride home (it was literally silent!) I highly recommend it!

Conference

Oh how we didn't really like it when we were kids and now we love it but just can't seem to listen to it now:


General Conference!

So tell me what worked for you this last weekend of inspirational words from our leaders!

Did you build a fort and watch it? Did you play bingo with candy? Did you encourage the kids to sit quietly and do craft after craft? I am interested to know what you did, because I am in need of some new ideas for the spring!

Third Times a Charm?

Many of you have asked...

"How is Corbin doing?"

I bet you got this reply...

"He is doing much better."

BUT HE'S NOT!!!!!!

Yep, we still have an ear infection (assuming it is the same one) which is causeing breathing problems, running nose problems, sleeping problems, crankiness problems, mommy not sleeping problems, sick of shoving medication down this throat problems, and nursing problems!

So we are now on our third anitbiotic- each one has been sequentially "stronger" than the last. I hope this one is the one the kills it and we can get back to our "normal" life. Actually, he has been such a trooper. If I hadn't known what was really going on I would have just guessed he was a little irratible because of teething, but it's sadly much more than that. Poor guy, we love him so much.

What??

Isn't it interesting as a mom you would ALMOST give anything to your kids to keep them happpy and busy. Even at a little of your own expense. But then it really doesn't take long to regret your decision and wonder "what was I thinking?"

So this was what my day sounded like:

At least they were nice enough to play a tune for Corbin. Dylan even wondered why his recorder started to become wet. Notice the hula skirt Ashlyn insisted she wear to the library.

I think Connor is smarter than I am and doesn't even think/buy/imagine toys that are super noisy. He even grumbles about gifts the kids get (the lawn mower) that he knows will fall in this category. He would rather hide them in the attic or throw them away!

But all is well and I think I can still hear right.